Only 43% of Malaysians happy with MH370 handling

Kuala Lumpur - Just 43 percent of Malaysians are satisfied with their government's handling of the missing-plane mystery while 50 percent are dissatisfied, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, Malaysia's leading polling firm, said the survey of more than 1 000 people was conducted from March 13 to 20.

Since that time, however, there has been rising anger among Malaysians against Chinese and other criticism over the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

The plane veered off course on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard, including 50 Malaysian citizens. It is believed to have crashed in the remote Indian Ocean, but nothing is known as to what caused it to deviate from its flight path.

Two-thirds of the passengers were from China, and Chinese relatives have expressed disbelief that the plane could simply vanish, with many angrily accusing Malaysia of hiding information.

In the Merdeka survey, the government's handling of MH370 received far more support from members of the Muslim ethnic-Malay majority than from the multi-racial country's large minority communities.